Customer Reviews

Zero Day (John Puller 1)

It's always nice to sink your teeth into a Baldacci, particularly when he throws you a curveball by introducing a new character with a whole new set of skills. However, it's quite a shock to find something vaguely familiar about John Puller whose former MP days match up with Lee Child's Jack Reacher, and you begin to wonder what's coming next when he teams up with a small-town female sheriff to solve a series of grisly crimes (reminiscent of Reacher's latest plot - The Affair). Add in the fact that he loves his coffee by the gallon and gets to beat up on the town bully and wow! - the shades of déjà vu start to close in alarmingly!

For avid fans of Reacher the comparison offered by Puller is frankly off-putting and, to a degree, disappointing. But none of that should detract from what is a stonking great yarn in its own right. Nobody does insight into weaponry, forensics, clandestine services, and politics like Baldacci and in Zero Hour he lets it all hang out. The story rattles along at a fast rate, draws you into making some wrong assumptions, and has more than enough action for even the fiercest of adrenaline junkies. It builds to a climax as good as any you're likely to encounter, including a few twists that only the bravest of authors attempt these days.

If this is to be the start of a new Baldacci series featuring the superbly-honed investigative skills of John Puller - and there's no reason to doubt otherwise - then bring it on! Goodness knows there are a lot of stories out there just waiting for the Baldacci flair to keep Puller busy. Let's just hope that as he evolves, the character starts to distance himself from the Jack Reacher brand!

I have been a Baldacci addict ever since I read The Christmas Train and his novels never cease to amaze me in the completely differerent topics he covers but there is always a surprise ending.

This book sneaks up on you. It starts as a standard detective investigation with Puller (military) joining up with Sam Cole the local female and lead cop. Set in a remote county, Sam faces discrimination from the locals but has proven herself up to the job. Together they slowly pull together to solve unusual local murders but there is something far deeper behind the scenes. This thriller is exactly that - so intriguing and full of great characters intertwined with family relationships but you are kept guessing until the final chapters. All is not as it seemed in this sleepy backwater - its fate could affect the nation. The final ending is a complete surprise and very unexpected. I could not put this one down but its pretty intensive reading so it did take me two days to complete but worth every moment.

This is a must read for any thriller enthusiast. If you have not read Baldacci before, this is a good introduction but bear in mind that no two of his novels are of the same genre but all contain ingenious plots/endings. You will be hooked...Zero Day

"Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, And does not know who will gather them." -- Psalm 39:6 (NKJV)

I would have liked this book a lot better if Lee Child hadn't already written the Jack Reacher novels. Instead, I kept having the feeling that I'd already read this book . . . and there are a number of surface similarities to Lee Child's latest Reacher novel, The Affair.

I liked The Affair better than Zero Day, but Zero Day is a perfectly satisfying book. If you haven't read The Affair, you'll probably like Zero Day better than I did.

I don't know enough about the military and military investigations to know how accurate the details are in Zero Day. But the details seemed credible to an ignorant person like me. If you are familiar with the details, their accuracy will probably affect your enjoyment of the book quite a bit.

John Puller makes an interesting protagonist because Mr. Baldacci leaves so many mysteries virtually untouched in Puller's background. Obviously, future books are planned that will gradually reveal aspects of those mysteries which include a tricky family background and a seemingly irrational desire to avoid gaining military rank.

Puller shows humanity that makes him more appealing than what might have been developed in someone who is a bit of a hard core cop-type.

The mystery is decently complicated and not too transparently telegraphed.

The book's main appeal, however, is in the pairing of the military investigator, Puller, with the single woman detective, Sam Cole. Their relationship carries the story forward in a way that the Reacher novels usually don't contain as effectively.

Having read some of the reviews and the product description, for 20p I decided to give it a go. I'm so pleased I didn't spend more on it.

If you were to cut out all the waffle and the tedious technology that really isn't required to that depth unless you're a rocket scientist (or in the US Military), it would be a good read. The product description says that the hero is at odds with the female sheriff, when they seemed to work pretty well together, I thought.

All in all, I had to put some hard work in to finish this book, instead of it being a pleasure to read. I don't think I'll be continuing this series of books.

After all his other books that I have really enjoyed this took some getting through. I didn't think it neccesary to have every weapon described right down to the firing pin, or what the army would do in a situation or what he had learnt in the army. To be honest it was like walking through wet cement. I found myself skipping pages just to try and find the good bits, which there wasn't many of. Not one of his better characters.

Zero Day does have a familiar feel of The Affair. I am a Reacher fan but I still like this book. Puller is a bit less dramatic than Reacher but still righteous and a very capable army investigator. It started quite slow but progress very smoothly to the end. Baldacci has given lots of technical details re the detonation of bombs and subtle human touch with Sam Cole and his cat. Look forward to his next Puller book. Hence, I will have both Reacher and Puller to read now!!

This title was suggested to me by a friend for my holiday reading list. So there I was on a wet Wednesday afternoon at the Moselle valley. A bottle of the local plonk and John Puller for company! This book didn't pull any punches... From dusting up the local bully to helping an old lady pass with dignity this was a great read for an otherwise dull day. It is pure escapism. I read it over the course of a day and there were patches when I could not put it down.

The hero, John Puller is just too good to be true, he never makes a mistake and his self confidence in his abilities are unshakeable. The best bit is when the...... nah! no plot spoilers here you'll just have to read it for yourselves.

This book as other reveiwers have said is a ripoff of the affair by lee child,this book is just ok to read but nothing special.The hero is a carbon copy of jack reacher but is way too perfect for my liking,you know he will triumph in every situation and cannot make a wrong decision. The outcome is never in doubt so up to you whether to buy or not.

I took a while to really get into this as it was rather slow. The mid-section picked up the pace somewhat and was good but when the plot unravelled in the last quarter, I felt rather disappointed as it veered too incredulously and seemed out of line with the main build-up. Overall, I rated this average, as it was well written, the characters of Puller quite strong, but admittedly in the vein of Child's Jack Reacher. Not one of the best from a classic story teller.

oh, what to make of David Baldacci? A capable and entertaining author, much of his recent work has not been up to the standard set by his early books. My personal view is that this came about as he started producing books on a more regular basis, quantity over quality if you like. And now we have "Zero Day" which is a very hard book to review...
The good news is that this is the best book from the author in some while, a fast paced page turner about an US Military investigator looking into some deaths in a small town and realising there is a far bigger picture.....
The bad news is that I am astonished at how this rips off Lee Child's Jack Reacher! A tall military cop who goes by his surname, adept with his fists or weapons, hightened observational and analytical skills, the setting of small town US and a lady sheriff to boot! It's almost like he went with a check list of a standard Reacher book! It's astonishing almost to the degree that it is funny.
But it actually ain't bad and Reacher fans will probably enjoy this while thinking Mr Baldacci has a bit of a cheek. But the truth is, with the ripped off character and formula and Baldacci's ability, this works well and I have to say I enjoyed it.